Discover the joy of the Garden in spring! Many of our flowers have bloomed, creating delightful pops of color throughout our landscape.
Reverend Zuigaku Kodachi has been a seminal leader in Portland, Oregon and introduced O-Bon to Portland Japanese Garden in 1976.
Portland Japanese Garden is excited to showcase the art of gift-giving through the exhibition Painting with Thread: The Art and Culture of Fukusa, featured in the Calvin and Mayho Tanabe Gallery from June 22 through September 16. Fukusa are ornate works of Japanese silk that were traditionally used in formal gift-giving rituals amongst prominent families in Japan starting around 350 years ago during the Edo period (1603-1868). The fukusa (gift covers) featured in the exhibition were generously donated along with a collection of uchishiki (decorated altar cloths) to the organization by San Francisco residents Peter and Beverly Sinton, longtime fans and collectors of Japanese textiles. This exhibition marks the first time the nuanced artistry of fukusa has been displayed in Portland Japanese Garden.
In May of 2024, Portland Japanese Garden welcomed Ann Burroughs to give a keynote address at its Annual Membership Meeting. Burroughs sat down to chat about JANM and Portland Japanese Garden after a walk through its grounds.
Portland Japanese Garden is honored to have the dedicated support of local artists, musicians, and practitioners who share their expertise and talents with our guests at cultural demonstrations and performances. They help us pursue our mission of Inspiring Harmony and Peace by shining light on Japanese culture as a form of cultural diplomacy. One such individual is Jan Waldmann, who sat down with The Garden Path to talk about her nearly 50 years of collaboration with the Garden.
In honor of koi, we here take a look at their history at Portland Japanese Garden, their cultural significance in Japan, and answer some of the biggest questions asked about the beloved creatures themselves.
Since the 1970s, Portland Japanese Garden has brought together the community to celebrate traditional cultural festivals. Mark your calendars now and join us in a new year of Japanese celebrations!
Of the more formalized approaches to leveraging the special qualities of nature, forest bathing, or as it was first coined in Japanese, shinrin yoku, has started to grow momentum in the American cultural zeitgeist.
This article is also available as a pdf. By Will Lerner, Marketing and Communications Manager for Portland Japanese Garden & Japan Institute We may never know who created the first stone lantern or the precise form that it took, but surely it must have been installed where humankind traversed and in a place in want …
Portland Japanese Garden has always simultaneously been, outside of Japan, a place of unparalleled Japanese landscape art and North America’s foremost Japanese cultural organization. Just as the Umami Café offers guests the rare opportunity to enjoy world-class green tea direct from the acclaimed 160-year-old Jugetsudo tea company or how our exhibitions showcase some of the finest traditional and contemporary Japanese artists, the organization is always seeking to broaden understanding of the many fascinating qualities of Japan. In July, the organization turned its attention to one such item: whisky.